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No. 61,806. PATBNTED FEB. 5, 1867. G, H. CLINTON & D. H. HARRIS.

PRUNING S'HEARS.

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GEORGE H. CLINTON AND D. H. HARRIS, on NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.

Letters Patent No. 61,806," da ted Febr ztmg 5, 1867.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that we, Gnonnn H. Cannon and D. H. HARRIS, of NeivHm-en, in the county of New Haven, and in the State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful lmprovements in Pruning and other Shears; and we do hereby declare that the following is' a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, and, to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure-l is a side view of the 'shears.

Figure 2 is a section of the same passing through the centrc of the shears.

The nature of our invention consistd in using a circular knife for one of..t'l1e cutting edges-of the shears, instead of two shear blades, as .is usual in pruning-shears.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and useour invention, we will proceed to describe its construc tion and operation. 4 V

Inthe construction of our invention, all are the handles, attached at and united by means of screw 0- One of the jaws is inade larger than the other ,'.aud is made with open spaces in it so that, if any part of the material cut shall fall between it and the knife fit may readily discharge and leave the knife free to revolve. b, .the revolving knife, bevelled on its outer-side; -c'-tl1 e screw for fastening the circular .kn.ife tzrthe jaw of the one side of the shear or handle. The other jaw has asrnootli"faceon the inner side, while on thecdge it is somewhat bevelled, so as to leave a cutting edge where it comes in. contact with the circular knife. e represents a twig in, position to he severed "by the shears; f, the springs. In fig. 2 the like parts are. designatedby the same letters as in.fig. 1. The blades or handles may be made of any known material, such as wrought iron, cast iron, 'or malleable iron. The circular knife is made of steel, about one-eighth of an inch thick at its centre,

and bevelled to a sharp-cutting edge on the side next to thejaw to which it-is fastened, while, on the fac'ej'or' cutting side, it is smooth, or an even surface. I

In the operation of our invention it will be seen that we do not use 'two straight levers, which require a much greaterpowe'r than the form of shears we use. It will be seen that as the circular knife is frefe to revolve on the screw 0, it has a continuous cutting edge through the entirecircle The opposite jaw is made to conform in shape with the knife, so that when we wish to cut a twig it will be'grasped between the knife and jaw, as

seen in fig. 1, letter 2, thus bringing t c pressure nearly in a straight line with the fulcrum of the knife 6, thus preventing an increase of resistan e by forcing thething cut -further. from the fulcruin' of .the cuttiiigpoint, as is thecase in.using shears with straight-cutting edges. -When thetwig is grasped between the knife edge and the-jaw, it will be seen that the pressure is always in a straight line with the bite of jaw and fulcrum 0? screws; for if tho'thing to be cut is a little before 'or in the rear of said line, as soon as the pressure by the hands of the operator is put-heavil y on .thc handles a a, the knife will revolve until it is brought in aliue, as

described, at-which point'it will be severed by means of the openings d If any particles of wood \fall in a between the knife 6 and the jaw to'which it is attached, they will pass oiit of said openings and allow the knife to. clear itself and revolve freely. As a pruning-knife, we consider the form of "shears as above described having reat advantages, over the shears now in use, as-wo awoid twisting of the shears in the act of cutting, arid by having the power applied in the manner most availablci .Thesprings f f are for opening the shears.

. Having thus described the nature and operationo'f our invention, what \vc'claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The'construction of pruning-shears with .a circnlar revolving knife I: attached to thc jaw or handle-asdescribed, as the cutting edge of said shears, and the curved grasping jaw or handle, operating as described,

and for the purposes specified.

In testimony that we claim the above-describod invention, we'lmve hereunto signed our names this 19th day of September, 1866.

GEO. H. CLINTON, D. H. HARRIS.

Witnesses:

E. J. Snnronn, LEWIS Mix. 

